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GUIDE TO THE WALTER SMITH RAILROAD COLLECTION 2.4 CUBIC FEET
PROCESSED 2006-2007 FINDING AIDE COMPLETED OCTOBER 2007 BY JIM CARTER
HISTORICAL NOTE This collection consists primarily of documents relating to the Jacksonville Terminal Company and its owners: The Atlantic Coast Line, Florida East Coast Railway, Seaboard Air Line, Southern Railway and the Georgia Southern and Florida Railway. In 1916 the company began to acquire land for a modern and more impressive union station. The architect, Kenneth Murchison, designed a beaux-arts structure, which borrowed freely from New York Citys Pennsylvania Station. The multi-million dollar terminal opened on November 18, 1919. At its peak more than 100 trains arrived daily. By the late 1920s the union station was the second largest employer in Jacksonville. However, dwindling passenger traffic caused the station to close in 1974 and the Jacksonville Terminal Company itself was liquidated in February 1978. SCOPE AND CONTENT The Walter Smith Collection consists of seven boxes (2.4 cubic feet) of material. Additionally, there are some oversized records of the Jacksonville Terminal and the Erie Lackawanna Railroad that are filed separately in the map area. The bulk of the material was recovered from the abandoned general offices of the terminal company. Unfortunately, the offices were used as a shelter by trespassers who burned many files and allowed others to be destroyed by exposure to the elements. As a result the files are fragmented and incomplete. Many of the documents concern the planning and construction of the new union station during the World War I period. Other records relate to the operations of the railroads that shared ownership of the terminal. The collection contains correspondence, telegrams, blue prints, maps, photographs, catalogs, magazines and newspaper articles. ORGANIZATION The collection is organized by Railroad Company in chronological order. Some materials are of such a large size that they must be filed separately in the map area. PROVENANCE Mr. Walter Smith, a railroad historian and locomotive engineer, living in Melbourne, Florida, donated most of the collection to the Florida Historical Society. RESTRICTIONS Some records are extremely fragile due to age, poor quality paper, and exposure to the elements and smoke damage. A number of these materials have been placed in protective plastic covers and should be handled with care.
CONTENTS BOXES AND FOLDERS BOX ONE JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL CO. RECORDS Folder #1 Copies of 1896 Ordinances concerning passenger terminals Folder #2 - Planning for construction of new terminal 1914 Folder #3 W. L. Morse, Chief Engineer, Correspondence, 1913-1915 Folder #4 Chief Engineer vouchers for new station, 1914-1915 Folder #5 - Condition of old train shed, 1913 Folder #6 Demolition of old train shed, 1917-1918 Folder #7 Blue Print B, Lee Street Station, 1914 Folder #8 Blue print C, Myrtle Street Station, 1914 Folder #9 Blue print costs, 1916-1920 Folder #10 Jacksonville Terminal locomotive photographs Folder #11 Terminal construction photographs and negatives, 1918 Folder #12 Photos of the Jacksonville Terminal in the 1940s. Folder #12 Photography costs, 1916 and 1920 Folder #13 New Coach Yard and Passenger Station costs, 1916 Folder #14 - Passenger Yard track layout planning and costs, 1916-1917 Folder #15 General information on coaling stations, 1916 Folder #16 Requisitions for coaling station, 1918 Folder #18 Disputed property boundaries with the Atlantic Coastline Railroad, 1922
BOX TWO JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL CONSTRUCTION INTERLOCKING AND SIGNALING Folder #1 Cost Estimates for interlocking and signaling, 1913 Folder #2 Estimates for interlocker heat, light and power. Request for Signal Engineer, 1913 and 191 5 Folder #3 - Chief Engineer correspondence regarding interlocker, 1917 Folder #4 Planning for Myrtle Avenue Tower, 1916-1917 Folder #5 Enterprise Street Tower construction notes, 1918 Folder #6 Loss of I beams for interlockers, 1918 Folder #7 Interlocker construction progress notes, 1918-1920 Folder #8 Specifications and bids for Lee Street Tower and Davis St., 1919-1920 Folder #9 Interlocker progress reports, invoiced and vouches, 1918-1919 Folder #10 Enterprise Street Interlocker: dispute over boxcar, 1918 Folder #11 Interlocker construction problems, 1919 Folder # 12 Bids for construction of Myrtle Avenue Interlocker, 1919 Folder # 13 Building permits and specifications for Myrtle Avenue Interlocker, 1919 Folder #14 Bills and vouchers for Myrtle Avenue Interlocker, 1919 Folder #15 Additional air compressor for Myrtle Avenue Interlocker, 1919 Folder #16 Analysis and testing of wires for interlockers, 1919 Folder #17 Interlocker invoices and statements, 1918-1919 Folder #18 Interlocker invoices and bills of lading, 1919
BOX THREE JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL CONSTRUCTION RECORDS Folder #1 Timber Requirements for passenger yard, switches and crossings, 1916 Folder #2 Drainage, November 1916 to March 1917 Folder #3 Drainage, March 1917 to October 1917 Folder #4 Drainage, June 1918 to July 1919 Folder #5 Drainage, August 1 to August 7, 1919 Folder #6 Drainage, August 9 to August 25, 1919 Folder #7 Drainage, October 1919 to March 1920 Folder #8 Electrical power installations, 1917 Folder #9 Electrical power installations, 1918 Folder #10 Electrical Power installations, 1919 Folder #11 Platforms and sheds, 1917 and 1919 Folder #12 Structural steel requirements, 1917-1918 Folder #13 Pipe and fittings requirements, 1917-1918 Folder #14 Ornamental electrical fixtures, 1917-1919 Folder #15 Ticket Office requirements, 1917-1919 Folder #16 Terminal flooring, 1917-1918 Folder #17 Skylights and steel sash, 1917 and 1920 Folder #18 Brickwork, 1917-1919 BOX FOUR Folder #19 Ornamental ironwork, 1917 Folder #20 Deck ballast for Myrtle Street Bridge, 1918 Folder #21 Pipe rail fences, 1920 Folder #22 Brick smoke stack, 1921 Folder #23 Miscellaneous material requirements, 1917-1919 Folder #24 Marble, granite and stone for station, 1917-1919 Folder #25 Doors, windows and lighting for Terminal, 1917-1920 Folder #26 Track Shovel requirements, 1917 Folder #27 Purchase of Gasoline Speeder for track gangs, 1918 Folder #28 Rental of Florida East Coast steam locomotive, 1918 Folder #29 Delay of passenger train by track workers, 1919 Folder #30 Construction of station plaza, 1919 Folder #31 Terminal paving, 1918-1919 Folder #32 Terminal paving, 1919-1920 Folder #33 Lee Street Viaduct, 1919 Folder #34 Personal injury claims during construction, 1917 Folder #35 Personal injury claims during construction, 1918 Folder #36 Personal injury claims during construction, 1919 Folder #37 Passenger personal injury claims, 1919
BOX FIVE JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL VOUCHERS AND REQUISITIONS Folder #1 Chief Engineers vouchers, 1913 Folder #2 Chief Engineers vouchers, 1914 Folder #3 Instructions for issuing and authorizing requisitions, 1918-1919 Folder #4 Requisitions for tools and equipment for terminal yards, 1917 Folder # 5 Requisitions for tools and equipment for terminal yards. 1918-1919 Folder #6 Office supply requisitions, 1917 Folder #7 Office supply requisitions, 1918-1919 Folder #8 Signal Department Vouchers, 1919 Folder #9 Signal Department Vouchers, 1919-1920 Folder #10 Job charge reports due to wartime inflation, April to August 1918 Folder #11 Job charge reports due to wartime inflation, September to December 1918 Folder #12 Job Charge requests due to increased costs, January to August 1919
BOX SIX JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL RECORDS Folder #1 Beaver Street Viaduct, 1928 Folder #2 Beaver Street Viaduct, construction bids, 1928 Folder #3 Beaver Street Viaduct, 1928 Folder #4 Beaver Street Viaduct, Personnel matters, 1928 Folder #5 Paving of Beaver Street Viaduct, 1929-1930 Folder #6 Introduction of Social Security, 1936 1938 Folder #7 Proof copy of new first mortgage, new bond issue, operating and guaranty Agreement, December 1, 1947 Includes a $1000 bond Folder #8 Personnel matters, 1953-1954 Folder #9 Personnel matters, 1955 Folder #10 Personnel matters, 1956 Folder #11 Personnel matters, 1957 Folder #12 Personnel matters, 1958 Folder #13 Personnel matters, 1959 Folder #14 Personnel matters, 1960 Folder #15 Personnel matters, 1961 Folder # 16 Personnel matters, 1962 Folder #17 Personnel matters, 1963 Folder #18 Trainmaster bulletins, 1957-1962 Folder #19 Car movement by Florida East Coast Railway using Jacksonville Terminal Tracks, September 1 10, 1963
BOX SEVEN
FLORIDA EAST COAST AND OTHER RAILROADS Folder #1 Florida East Coast Railway Freight charges to the Key West Extension, 1915 Folder #2 Florida East Coast Railway Local Freight Tariff Number 5, 1920 Folder #3 Florida East Coast Injunction against Unions interfering with railway Operations, 1922 Folder #4 Florida East Coast Railway photos of the 1927-1935 era Folder #5 Florida East Coast Railway pickets photographs, undated Folder #6 Florida East Coast Railway various documents including train orders, 1965- 1969. Folder #7 Atlantic Coastline Railroad blue print of main line Jacksonville, 1916 Folder #8 Atlantic Coastline Railroad blue print of proposed signal change, 1919 Folder #9 Atlantic Coastline Railroad passenger files and records, 1953-1963 Folder #10 Southern Railway general passenger and freight files, 1959-1963 Folder #11 Florida railroad timetables from Official Guides, various dates |